Hello everyone

Earlier this month I was able to interview Graham at Isle of Arran‘s Lagg Distillery to find out more about him and what Lagg has coming up for us by way of new releases. Indeed, in the couple of weeks since then, one has appeared and their official notes are further down the column.

Graham has been at Lagg since it opened several years ago. It turns out he‘s an Ileach (someone from Islay) with his Mum from Islay and his Dad from Tiree so good island pedigree. He knows the distillery guys on Tiree as Ian is an accordion player as was Graham‘s Dad. He jokes everybody knows everybody. Whisky making seems to be in the blood with him too. His uncle by marriage (to his Mum‘s sister) is James MacTaggart who ran Lagg‘s sister distillery, Lochranza, on Arran for years and he‘s also related to David Livingstone at Ardnahoe. Says Graham, „Everyone on Islay is surprisingly well-entwined!“

As Graham joined Lochranza at 22 I asked what happened between school and then. I studied biotech for four years at agricultural college – mostly analytical sciences, for analytical work in food or drink, bit not necessarily whisky. That‘s what I was heading towards. Like many at 18 I wasn‘t sure what I wanted to do but studied there and graduated and 6 months later I had a job at Lochranza. I started in January 2011.“

I assumed he‘d embraced working in whisky where as some kick against it if surrounded by family in an industry. „No, I kicked against it too, initially. In those days it was not seen as good to stay and work on the island distilleries. It was a joking threat from my Mum in school days – if you don‘t do well you‘ll be stuck here working at a distillery.“

So, if you hadn‘t gone into whisky, what career would you have wanted? „ Working as a lab technician. That was my original study and expertise. I think I was offered the Lochranza job as I had that background. There wasn‘t really anyone at Isle of Arran Distillers that could do the chemical analysis you‘d normally do in-house. Everyone could work the production machinery but they were not staffed up on that other side“.

I‘m told there are new things coming up from Lagg for spring/summer and for 2026 generally. Are you able to tell me any more? „The first big thing is we‘re finally releasing our single cask range this year. We‘ve been wanting to do that for a long time but the age of the distillery and spirit really dictates when you can start that. We‘ve got some really good quality casks that are turning seven soon so are ready to hit the market on their own. One of the first we‘re doing is in collaboration with Arran Geopark. When Arran was given UNESCO status it was Arran Geopark that was really responsible for that. These single cask bottlings will have their logo together with ours to celebrate this. It‘ll be released in the summer. Also , we‘re expanding our small batch range which is the experimental side of Lagg. There will be a manzanilla finish soon [see their notes at the end] and a full maturation Cote Rôtie distillery exclusive. It‘s like strawberry jam! People love it. We might do a third one dependent on sales. We‘re also planning more single casks further down the line. I‘ve already struck a few solid gold casks. I gave myself a task in the last few months to start randomly sampling hundreds of casks then profiling and adding to a pile of possibles. That‘s for single casks, special bottlings and foreign market exclusives too. We‘re quite young, only seven years old but we are trying our best to get good liquid out there to people.

Plenty for us all to look forward to then. At time of interview the Lagg 7 year anniversary was coming up on 19th March so I wondered if anything special was coming up for that.  „Not for this anniversary but I imagine there may be one for the tenth.We always make a note of it and post online but we‘ve never had an actual bottling to celebrate it. That may be coming down the line in future.“ Given what Graham just told me about upcoming bottlings then I reckon they have enough to do at present. Also, do they still retain any samples of that first new spirit to keep as comparison with subsequent runs? „Oh yes. Every single filling that we do, I‘ve always kept a sample. The old ones have rather been sampled to death though so I need to make sure we retain some for future analysis. We‘ve got three full casks left from that very first special batch. Cask No.1 belongs to the single cask owners of Lagg and they will get a bottle each from that at the tenth anniversary.

How many people work at Lagg now? „We have only 3 operators in total, 2 in the still house and one full-time in the warehouse. There are 2 people in the office and 2 groundskeepers who look after the whole Lagg site – a very large rural site – and they often like to help with barrel uplifts or decanting. Then there‘s the visitor side which, depending on the season can have between 20 – 30 people full-time and part-time. We have the two facilities of bar/bistro upstairs and the cafe downstairs as well as the shop, reception and tours so enough to give people a good experience when they come here.“

Is there much collaboration and communication between Lagg and Lochranza or is each very self-contained? Is there healthy competition? „Oh, no, we share staff all the time. We train a lot of staff on both sites in case of emergencies. Stewart Bowman – who manages Lochranza – and I work very closely and phone almost every day, often about ideas and sometimes he‘ll ask me questions as I worked there for nine years and may remember something from before he arrived. We share an assistant manager to be back-up for either one of us as it‘s important that someone knows the ins and outs of both distilleries for holidays or illness.

Now, those of you who follow such things will know that our Scottish island ferry services have been a bit of a shambles these last couple of years with older boats needing major repairs and even the new (very late and over budget) ferries having a number of small and larger issues.

I wondered how much of a problem and what kind of problems these have caused Graham and Lagg. I was thinking of barley and other supplies going over and spirit or mature whisky going back to the mainland. „It‘s been non-stop for a while [and it hasn‘t ceased to be a problem at time of writing]. The winter months can be very trying. Contractors are the biggest problem I would say. Our industry requires a lot of specialist contractors – for maybe pumps or compressors or special equipment checks. We need them for legislative and safety reasons maybe every six months or a year. One took 3 months to get here for an inspection due to ferry issues because he kept getting knocked back from the ferry. Materials are not too bad. We can manage those fairly well ourselves. We use a semi-local company from Bute who know the islands and ferries very well. They‘re in charge of delivering our malt and know when things can go awry and when to change them. Non-island based contractors often assume if they‘ve booked a ferry it will be fine. We‘re praying that the boat we got last year comes back from repairs soon. The other new one is supposed to be end of this year but isn‘t certain. Once we get both new boats in full service we can stop stealing ferries from other islands. People from Uist accuse me of stealing their boat!

I‘ve read elsewhere that you don‘t like stainless steel washbacks. Care to tell us why? Burst of laughter here from Graham. „It‘s the strangest thing how that gets out and about! I said something about that to a German magazine once and it‘s stuck! No, I don‘t like them. I‘ve not had much experience with them but from my experience and everything I‘ve read about wooden ones I wouldn‘t have anything else. It‘s a natural insulator with natural fauna from fermentation. It creates its own character and you don‘t get that with stainless steel. I knew when I said that to the magazine I‘d hear it for the rest of my life. It‘s funny that‘s become such a part of what I‘m known for. From an engineering point of view we need to lag and heat stainless steel and sometimes have to cool them. A wooden washback never needs any of that.

What is the ppm of Lagg and why Aberdeenshire peat? „We‘re 50ppm as standard – 90% of what we create. We have gone higher for local Arran barley which accounts for 5% of our total barley. We hyper-peat that specially just to make a certain profile for it at 90 – 135ppm. It has changed slightly over time. The first reason is easy as Aberdeenshire peat is the one our malt supplier tends to use and it suits our flavour profile. The second big reason is that we didn‘t want to create an Islay peated which was „off-Islay“. We wanted Highland peat with a west coast character. This one with a sphagnum moss, brushland kind of peat gives grassy and citrus notes and like a bonfire or tobacco smoke rather than a medicinal smoke. We did ask about Islay but they don‘t have enough at the maltings themselves. We can‘t touch Arran peat [one of the peatland areas pictured here] as the island is largely characterised as SSSI [a Site of Special Scientific Interest – a conservation designation] and we can‘t remove the local peat for commercial purposes. We‘re heavily involved in peatland restoration on Arran. It was devastated by landowners in the 60‘s and 70‘s who drained peatlands and we‘re helping to restore those.We‘ve donated a lot of money to that cause. Where our Aberdeenshire peat comes from is one main area to limit damage there as much as possible.

Moving away a little from the work side of things, what are your interests outside of work? „I have two very young kids so they‘re very child related right now – like fixing trampolines! Before children it was cinema. I used to go to the mainland a lot particularly for foreign movies. With my partner we used to enjoy travelling to as many countries as we could. That may happen again eventually. Our children are 7 and 4 so we‘re a bit pinned down for any hobbies outside of those little munchkins. My partner worked in a brewery for a number of years so were big fans of brew tours, trying out different beers as well as whiskies.“

Nudging back to the work a bit, do you leave Arran to do talks at festivals and ambassadorial work? „Yes, but not often. I‘m the health and safety specialist here so I do have a lot of responsibility in that area. There‘s a lot on the site requiring my attention. I‘ve been to specific regions for sales, talks and tastings. I was in Sweden last year for new launches as it‘s one of our biggest markets. They have offerings that don‘t go elsewhere. I helped launch Lagg in Japan which was a very exciting one – it‘s a big one for Isle of Arran single malts. There‘s always a zest for our products there. I‘ve also done some things to help the Islay Whisky Academy. Always happy to help with knowledge.“

So what are your favourite places to visit for a) work and b) leisure? „Well for a) definitely Japan was the best experience ever. I met so many fans of the products and knowing that you have that reach to so many fans of something you‘ve been a part of is really touching. For b) can I say Islay? Is that cheating? I haven‘t thought about leisure travel in seven years! Otherwise I loved our time visiting the Baltic states and Finland.“

What are you most proud of at Lagg so far? „ I think my proudest moment was when we won Distillery of the Year two years ago at the Scotch Whisky Awards. Unbelievable. We were only about four years old, up against the likes of Glenmorangie. I thought it was nice to be invited so thought I‘d take my kilt and enjoy the dinner and then they said our name. I went along just to enjoy the night with no speech prepared as I didn‘t expect to win.“

Getting near the end of our chat I asked if Graham has any unfulfilled ambitions for work and personally. „For work, I really want to try more heritage malt – like bere barley – and different kinds of peat. I‘d like to have tried some Islay peat for a little side thing but that‘s not possible right now. And what about casks? “We have some Colombian virgin oak casks but the spirit isn‘t ready yet. We‘ve got calvados casks, tequila and mezcal, various types of sherry and other wines. We tried a scattershot of casks with a nice budget for experimentation to see what would work well with our spirit same way as Lochranza has its trio of Sauternes, amarones and ports that everyone knows about. We think we‘ve found some good ones like the manzanilla coming out now and palo cortado – a delight last year – as well as tequila and mezcal which I‘m very happy with, if maybe a bit more controversial. Both distilleries filled Calvados casks around the same time so we may have a dual release somewhere down the line. As far as personally, well, it‘s been busy with children and I haven‘t thought about anything but work for the last seven years but eventually I‘d like to travel the Trans-Siberian railway. 

As ever, my final question was what would be Graham‘s desert island whisky – the only one he could have if stuck on such a place. „Arran 18 Year Old. It‘s one of the best value whiskies I‘ve ever had in my life. It‘s one of the best sherry bombs. I do enjoy a good sherry wood whisky – not overly sweet or sickly. It has perfect balance.“

I think we can allow him that one. Before I go, the company‘s own notes on the new Lagg Manzanilla Finish say:

“The whisky was initially matured in first and second fill Bourbon barrels before being transferred into first‑fill Manzanilla sherry casks, where it rested for over one year. Limited to approximately 2,000 bottles worldwide, it is bottled at 57.6% ABV and presented cask strength, without chill filtration or added colour.

In the glass, the whisky shows a warm gold colour with amber reflections. On the nose, it is rich and inviting, with sweet syrup and maraschino cherries, accompanied by a gentle warmth that hints at the whisky’s depth. The palate opens with hot honey sweetness layered with spiced red fruits and cherry syrup, while a subtle salted minerality adds balance and complexity. The finish is long, drying and warming, with lingering ashen bonfire smoke and a delicate briny note that echoes the whisky’s coastal character.”

So with many thanks to Graham for his time, that’s all from me for March. Back in April after nosing and tasting some fairly recent arrivals including Raasay, Kilchoman and Loch Lomond.

Till next time, happy dramming.

Slainte mhath,

Caroline

Hello everyone

Plenty of new things to talk about this time plus a review of The Distillers One of One charity 2025.

Let‘s start with the Distillers‘ One of One Charity Impact Report. A jaunt over to Edinburgh last Tuesday evening to hear the review of the 2025 auction and progress so far in helping disadvanatged young people aged 16 – 25 in Scotland. During 2025 alone, 1007 young people were helped via the Youth Action Fund to achieve a successful emplyability outcome. Please note these jobs do not have to relate to the distilling industries. Since the first event in 2021, the One of One auctions have raised £6.6 million and these are mainly directed to the Youth Action Fund which was established in 2022, „…to support disadvantaged young people across Scotland to unlock their potential and contribute positively to their communities“. Further, the funding is targeted, „…in areas of greatest need and aligned with the geographic footprint of the Scotch Whisky industry. This ensures that investment reaches young people in communities with relatively high levels of poverty where economic inactivity, disadvantage and barriers to opportunity are most acute — and where sustained, high-quality support can deliver the greatest return“. Indeed, we heard on the night that over 4,200 young people have now been given assistance and guidance including from key workers who give them individual attention and walk every step with them.

Even better, in a Q&A we were able to hear from four young people and their key workers why they needed help and what the programme has done for them. It was impressive enough that, with the scheme, they had developed the confidence to speak in public never mind also secure qualifiations and/or work placements and gone on to find jobs or apprenticeships. They‘ve put in a lot of effort and deserve to succeed. The impact report is a long one so I won‘t say more other than that Distillers One of One is promising to be back in 2027 to raise even more valuable funding.

I was privileged to be invited on board The Tall Ship Glenlee here in Glasgow recently for the launch of Glen Scotia‘s new expression for the Campbeltown Whisky Festival on 19th and 20th May as well as a preview of the sessions visitors can attend there. First of all, the festival expression is a 7 year old, medium peated Glen Scotia, largely matured in bourbon for six and a half years then six months finishing in a ruby port cask. It will be available more widely than just for the festival as around 40,000 bottles have been produced for wider distribution, just waiting for you lucky people to buy them. It‘s both peated and saline with a dash of red wine and sweet fruit from the port cask. They decided that ruby port suited this whisky more than the usual tawny we‘ve seen from here and other places. They say it has,“…big flavours of ripe red fruit, gentle sweet peat and warming spice, carried on a rich, coastal undertone that reflects Glen Scotia’s maritime trade history“. I would agree with that. Plenty of tastiness. I did jot a couple of impressions on the night but haven‘t yet had time to do a more leisurely tasting on my own. If you can find it near you, do try it. It‘s non-chill filtered, bottled at 53.9% abv and priced at around £59 in the UK. A very reasonable price.

We were treated to a lot of tasting on the evening, as there was a presentation from master blender, Ashley Smith, on the history of distilling in the area including the ships which sailed to and from Campbeltown many years ago. That included a 10 year old with two years finishing in oloroso sherry wood, then a 10 year old finished in tawny port casks and finally a Glen Scotia finished in a Caribbean rum cask, to celebrate the ships which sailed from there to Campbeltown holding rum and other goodies. In those days coal also came in by sea as the local coal was of poorer quality. Also, the town‘s remote location made it harder for customs and excise to monitor trade. A lot of good history in this talk. Second tasting with Loch Lomond Group master blender, Michael Henry, covered a 12 year old fully matured in first fill bourbon and as well as a 25 year old at 48.8% abv which had one final year in first fill bourbon a delight of salty sea air, fruit, smokiness and salted crisps and smoked bacon. Yum! The third we all enjoyed, with brand ambassador Gary Mills, was a deconstruction of the components of the new festival bottling as mentioned above. All of these will be festival sessions. If you have time, I‘d urge you to get tickets if available and come up (or down) to Campbeltown for the event. You won‘t be disappointed. It happens a few days before the start of Feis Ile on Islay so you can fit in both if you have the holiday time. Don‘t think this one is overshadowed by Islay. It‘s every bit as good, just smaller and more compact in area. The other distilleries there are also part of it and the whole event runs from 18 -23 May. An excellent way of spending a couple of days in Campbeltown.

Last week, I received a bottle of another new expression – Glen Moray Forbidden Fruit in time for an online chat and tasting with brand ambassador Iain Allan and other whisky scribes. This one forms an ongoing part of their Experience range, following on from Twisted Vine and Phoenix Rising and was finished in calvados casks from the calvados producer within the La Martiniquaise (owners of Glen Moray) family of brands. The whisky is around 7 years old and was matured mainly in first and second fill bourbon wood with a couple of years in the calvados casks which are American white oak. Strength is 40% vol and the price is a very reasonable £32. I tried the whisky before the online meeting and my notes are:

Appearance: Rich old gold with brass highlights. Tears quite quick to form and run. Quite closely spaced.

Nose: Fresh, fruity – apple and pear; brioche dough. Touch of sultana and sweet oak. Peeled apple skins. Little bit of toffee and honey. Later on, fermented apple (even though it‘s not been near cider!). With water, powdered sugar and marshmallow; a bit more oak and vanilla and soft, sweet spices; a flash of pineapple.

Palate: Silky mouth feel; soft, slightly spicy (cinnamon, clove) which make it dance on the tongue like spritz; oak and pastry dough; a hint of almond and a touch of salt.

Finish: Medium length; soft oak, quite mellow with a dab of salt and a slight almond bitterness.

As some of the other participants noted, it tastes fine on its own but is also eminently mixable and ripe for a good summer long drink or cocktail recipe. I‘m thinking something with apple juice (or even fizzy apple) and mint but have still to test that. It may be relatively youthful but it doesn‘t lack flavour or aroma. Just as an enticement, Iain Allen advised that the next Glen Moray release would be alimited edition distillery exclusive Elgin Release – 5 years in bourbon wood and 5 in chardonnay casks, but smoky. They brought out a limited chardonnay expression several years ago and I still remember that fondly. It wasn‘t smoky, though, as I recall so hoping to try this one when it‘s ready. 

Another recent release came from Bruichladdich where they are celebrating the 25th anniversary since the distillery was reopened after years of closure in 2001. I was there then and hope to be back again this year. In celebration of the occasion they have released Bruichladdich Old Skool (yes, the spelling is correct) at 50% abv. This is a 10 year old malt using only local barley from 14 growers, all within a nine-mile radius of the distillery.  It certainly reflects Bruichladdich‘s commitment to supporting Islay farmers and all who work with them. They say, „The distillery pioneered the first trial of Islay grown barley in 2004, reintroducing the grain back to the island. A revolutionary old idea, Bruichladdich’s commitment to local growing not only produces flavour-forward, ultra-high provenance and fully traceable single malt whiskies, but adds value beyond the distillery gates..“. Old Skool is leading the way for two other celebration expressions for this year.

Packaging features a commemorative bottle „..inspired by retro Bruichladdich labels of the 1980s, the limited-edition anniversary release marries traditional Scotch whisky design features with the brand’s contemporary outlook“. I think I used to have one of those bottles – long gone. This bottle contains 60% recycled glass content while the whisky itself has matured primarily in carefully selected US oak former bourbon casks with a small parcel of first-fill Sauternes casks. There‘s no chill-filtration and no added colour. Master Blender, Adam Hannett, said: „…Using 100% Islay-grown barley gives the whisky a depth of flavour and a real sense of place. That natural barley sugar sweetness is central to our house style and runs right through the spirit.“It’s matured primarily in carefully selected first-fill bourbon casks, which allow the character of the barley to shine, bringing notes of stoned fruits, citrus zest and caramelised vanilla. A small parcel of first-fill Sauternes casks adds a subtle layer of floral sweetness, working in harmony with the fruity spirit and the inherent richness of Islay malt barley.“  If I‘m lucky there might be some left when I get over there though I will check in whisky stores near me. Price for the commemorative whisky is around £60 in UK and it‘s available via www.bruichladdich.com and in selected whisky retailers right now.

A release in from Douglas Laing & Co. last Friday to highlight the launch of Scallywag 18 Year Old (46% alc vol and no chill-filtration or added colour). It‘s a blended malt using single malts only from Speyside and predominantly matured in sherry casks. Along with Timorous Beastie, this is one of my preferred ranges from DL & Co‘s blended malt ranges. Surprisingly, though it is very limited with only 2,610 bottles available globally, it‘s only around £85 at UK pricing. Not bad at all. Sadly, no sample due to rarity. Not a problem as right now every whisky company needs to maximise sales (and tourist business if they have a distillery) but DL people tell me all is well for them at present. Long may that continue. Anyway, their notes are, „On the palate, Scallywag 18-Year-Old is said to deliver opulent notes of dark chocolate truffles, spiced orange peel and toasted walnuts, unfolding into treacle toffee and black cherries, with a warming whisper of cinnamon. A lingering finish brings oak spice, espresso and dried figs…“. I do love good sherry cask maturation and that profile sounds great to me. This one has spent its last several years in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks from Jerez on top of the usual sherry cask maturation for the brand which should add extra opulance to this bottling.

This latest and oldest expression of Scallywag (and I‘m not counting their XOP x Scallywag Tormore 35 Years Old which is a single malt) is available through carefully chosen whisky specialists and top notch spirits retailers worldwide. One I‘ll be looking out for in my nearest specialists.

Still on Douglas Laing & Co. they recently released a video interview with CEO, Cara Laing, who is celebrating 20 years in the industry this year. You can read the text of some of that interview on https://www.douglaslaing.com/blogs/news/lessons-from-two-decades-at-the-heart-of-scotch-whisky . I’ve now been sent a link where you can see the video version on YouTube at LESSONS FROM TWO DECADES AT THE HEART OF SCOTCH WHISKY. I interviewed her some years ago for, I think, a US website but can‘t recall exactly and first met her when she had recently joined the industry for a stint in Whyte & Mackay‘s marketing team where she learned some of her nosing/tasting/blending skills from Richard Paterson, not to mention at home with her father, Fred. She then moved on to Morrison Bowmore for several years. She‘s a great asset to our industry and one of that rare number of female CEOs. I hope to see her in charge for a long time to come.

I‘ve been waiting for a couple of samples from Isle of Raasay, including The Chinkapin, to arrive. I‘m told they were sent out but nothing as yet. Things can get damaged in the mail or simply go astray but either is very unusual. However, this piece is quite long enough already so I‘ll include them another time if they do get here.

My next piece is a recent interview with Graham Omand of Lagg Distillery. Till then, happy dramming.

Slainte mhath,

Caroline